Madeleine Monette sets the stage of The Chalioux Kid in an anonymous city. Its protagonists are Arielle, a young singer for whom love is a risky business, and a boy who is barely surviving his childhood and risks homelessness if not worse. While refusing to go on stage, Arielle cultivates her operatic voice, a safe place to keep her feelings. When she witnesses the boy with the backpack, a fan of rap and extreme roller skating, committing a dreadful crime, she devotes herself to opening him up to his creative nature through music and writing. Between her new, attentive yet evasive lover and the boy nicknamed Mute or the mute, Arielle discovers that she has a gift for stimulating other people's imagination whether it be towards sincerity or dishonesty.

Madeleine Monette sets the stage of The Chalioux Kid in an anonymous city. Its protagonists are Arielle, a young singer for whom love is a risky business, and a boy who is barely surviving his childhood and risks homelessness if not worse. While refusing to go on stage, Arielle cultivates her operatic voice, a safe place to keep her feelings. When she witnesses the boy with the backpack, a fan of rap and extreme roller skating, committing a dreadful crime, she devotes herself to opening him up to his creative nature through music and writing. Between her new, attentive yet evasive lover and the boy nicknamed Mute or the mute, Arielle discovers that she has a gift for stimulating other people's imagination whether it be towards sincerity or dishonesty.

Born in Montreal, Madeleine Monette lives in New York City. She is the author of five novels, two poetry books and a collection of essays. A recipient of the Robert-Cliche Award, short-listed for many literary awards in North America and in France, she has contributed to literary publications in Québec, English Canada, the United States, France, Martinique, Morocco, Romania, Haiti and Italy. She is a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec and a founding member of the Parlement des écrivaines francophones.